Alex Brownsell
Aug 9, 2018

Mars consolidates global media planning and buying into MediaCom

The entire global business, including buying for the US and China, is worth $1.8 billion globally and kicks in starting in January.

Mars consolidates global media planning and buying into MediaCom

Mars has consolidated its estimated $1.8 billion global media planning and buying business into GroupM's MediaCom, following a six-month review.

The US confectionery and food giant previously separated planning and buying, and split those duties in different regions.

WPP’s MediaCom held the global planning account, while Publicis Groupe’s Starcom and Zenith and Omnicom’s OMD shared buying duties with MediaCom, though the latter only handled around a quarter of buying.

The entire global business—worth $1.8 billion globally, according to data from Recma—will now be consolidated into MediaCom, including buying for the US and China, with the new arrangements kicking in from 1 January 2019. The review was managed by ID Comms and Ebiquity.

The global media planning and buying consolidation came just a year after Mars completed a $515 mllion buying review in seven markets, including the UK, Germany, China, India and Japan.

In a statement, Andrew Clarke, chief marketing and customer officer at Mars, said: "This partnership will be a crucial accelerator in our ambition to be quicker, bolder and even more innovative when it comes to meeting our consumer needs. It brings thought leadership and actionable use of data and insights to meet our media needs."

It will prove to be one of Clarke's last major decisions as Mars chief marketing officer, following his promotion to the role of global president for Mars Wrigley Confectionery.

Rob Rakowitz, Mars’ global media director, added: "It was impressive to see some of the fresh, challenging approaches from all three of the agencies. It’s helped evolve our thinking throughout the pitch and inspired us to be even bolder in our ambition.

"GroupM created a custom operating model for us which enables us to put data at the heart of our decision making, drive speed at a global, local and campaign level, and use our resources efficiently."

Separately, earlier this week, it was revealed that Mars had suspended all UK advertising on YouTube for the second time within a year, after ads for its Starburst brand had run alongside a "drill" music video on the Google-owned platform.

Drill is a rap music genre known for being linked to violent crime in London and often contains lyrics about violence and gang symbols.

A spokeswoman for Mars had said the incident was "unacceptable and disappointing", and that it was working with Google and its media buying agencies "to understand what went wrong".

Source:
Campaign UK

Related Articles

Just Published

1 day ago

Creative Minds: Jereek Espiritu pushes his ideas to ...

An intervention by a computer repairman drove Jereek Espiritu away from a career flying helicopters to a world of creative leaps and flights of fancy.

1 day ago

UM launches Full Colour Media with a focus on ...

Full Colour Media is underpinned by a body of custom research conducted with more than 10,000 brands and with 5 million data points, culminating in a ‘Brand Patterns’ proprietary model designed to grow and differentiate brands.

1 day ago

Campaign Global Agency of the Year Awards 2024: ...

With the final entry deadline for Agency of the Year Global fast approaching, we speak to judges who share their views on the biggest opportunities and challenges for 2025, and what they hope to see in winning entries.

1 day ago

The 'laziest influencer' makes cleaning effortless—l...

S.C. Johnson's new mold-cleaning campaign features their least energetic spokesperson ever—a sloth whose main qualification is mastering the art of minimal effort.